1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of shelving, and more particularly, is directed to a shelf designed for holding a telephone and other articles in relatively level orientation in association with a hospital type bed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hospital beds have long presented problems to the users thereof in view of the inherent difficulties involved in storing and using bed associated articles due to the elevating nature of most such beds. Usually, hospital type beds include one or more elevating mechanisms which are provided for the comfort and treatment of the hospital patients. Particularly, it is common to elevate the head area of the bed to provide additional comfort to the occupant when engaging in such usual and repetitive activities as eating or reading. It will be appreciated that the users of such hospital type beds are normally more or less incapacitated and accordingly, any additional comfort or ease in use which can be provided for the patient would be most beneficial.
In view of the obvious need to provide for the comfort of hospital patients, numerous bed-attached devices have been developed by prior workers in the art. Exemplary of such prior art devices are the tray attachment for bedsteads disclosed in U.S. Pat No. 355,911 to Bartow, Jr.; the combined bed tray and night stand disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,054,122 to Sarkus; the adjustable book holding means disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,147,948 to Evanoff; the table attachment means disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,220,025 to Nelson; the bed tray and bed combination disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,276,045 to Bement; the table unit mountable on a bed frame disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,543,312 to Pofferi; and the bed rail attached device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,881 to DeLong.
However, so far as is known to the applicant, even though numerous hospital bed-attached devices have previously been developed, no one has to date disclosed a simple bed-attached shelf which may conveniently be employed to maintain an instrument, such as a telephone in level association with the bed and which may include adjustable means to hold the telephone in horizontal orientation under all elevated positions of the hospital bed itself.